“Working with trainer and Elgin resident Shannon States, Herrig is working toward becoming a world boxing champion.”

- Steven Ross Johnson
Staff Writer, The Courier News

Felice Herrig was featured recently in The Courier News . The article talks about her life as a combat martial artist, her TV appearances on the World Combat League, Combatwire, & Fight Girls, and her future plans in professional boxing. To check out the full article, click here.

May 1st at the San Manual Indian Casino in Highland, CA (WCK and Dennis Warner promotion)

Noelani “Haole-Girl” Brown of The Budo Ryu in San Luis Obispo, Ca. defeated Jamie Scolastico of Victorville, Ca. to become the new IAMTF California Woman’s Lightweight Champion. Noe victorious via unanimous decision 40-35 by all 3 judges.

Also on the same card, Geri “Singapore-Sling” Ooi, also of the Budo Ryu in San Luis Obispo, ca. defeated Patricia Muelen of Muay Thai Academy in North Hollywood. Also by unanimous decision. Although Geri being 8 inches shorter of the 2 women.

Jennifer Han and her World Combat League, St. Louis Enforcers may have ended their season early when they were upset by the New Jersey Tigers in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. But that doesn’t mean any time off from fighting for female kickboxing sensation, Jennifer Han. Han will compete Friday evening in her pro boxing debut against Kalishia Harris (0-1) at the El Paso County Coliseum on the undercard of the Johnny Tapia vs. Pedro Rincon Miranda fight.

Han was recently featured in the El Paso Times discussing her upcoming bout. http://www.elpasotimes.com/sports/ci_9100476

In the Saturday night “SuperShow” of the KICK/WAKO U.S. Amateur Tournament, promoter Rob Ziblski is planning a special team fight attraction that will feature our United States National Team vs. The Polish National Kickoxing Team. Both teams will feature the very best fighter that each country has to offer in the featured weight classes. The teams will feature 4 men and 1 women from Poland and the USA. Below is a listing of the atheletes representing Team USA in this contest.

	Dee Jay “Showtime” Jones Dee Jay comes to you from Winston Salem, North Carolina and is a National Champion many times over from many different sanctioning organizations. Most recently Dee Jay won the 2007 KICK/WAKO USA National Championships earning the 125.4lb spot on the 2007 United States Full Contact Kickboxing Team that competed in the 2007 WAKO World Championship held in Coimbra, Portugal. Check out Dee Jay’s interview with GoKickbox.com
	Jon “Lights Out” Lewis Jon comes to you from St. Paul , Minnesota and hold amateur World and National Titles under various sanctioning organizations. Most recently Jon won the 2007 KICK/WAKO USA National Championships earning the 139.7lbs spot on the 2007 United States Full Contact Kickboxing Team that competed in the 2007 WAKO World Championship held in Coimbra, Portugal. Before Team USA’s departure for Portugal everyone was asked to vote for a team captain. By a majority vote Jon was elected Captain of the 2007 United States Full Contact Team. Check out Jon’s interview with GoKickbox.com
	Leslie Stoll Leslie comes to you from Loves Park, Illinois. Leslie won the 2007 KICK/WAKO USA National Championships earning the -143lbs spot on the 2007 United States Full Contact Kickboxing Team that competed in the 2007 WAKO World Championship held in Coimbra, Portugal. Most recently Leslie traveled to Pont, Audemer, France with Team USA and competed with the French National Team.Check out Leslie’s interview with GoKickbox.com
	Simon Buettner Simon comes to your from Huntley, Illinois via Team Z. Simon is a hard hitting up and comer Most recently Simon won the prestigious amateur boxing tournament “The Chicago Golden Gloves”. Simon was a member of the 2006 Junior United States Kickboxing. The team competed at the 2006 WAKO Junior World Championships in Zadar, Croatia. Now at age 19 Simon is ready to go with Team Poland.
	Andrew Kryseptowski Andrew comes to you from Chicago, Illinois. In 2007 Andrew won KICK/WAKO USA National Championship in the Full Contact, and Low Kick. Andrew was one of only two athletes to accomplish this at this. By doing this Andrew earned a spot on the 2007 WAKO United States Full Contact Kickboxing Team. Check out Andrews’s interview with GoKickbox.com

More details coming soon on this exciting Team event including the names and stats of Team Poland!

On April 26th, at the “Rumble In The Park” from Loves Park, Illinois T.J. Gibson defeated Roy Jones to capture the vacant IKF Amateur FCR Heavyweight World Title by split decision 48-47, 47-48, 46-49. Gibson, who fights out of Hibbing, Minnesota improved his record to 9-1/6.

Also fighting on the kickboxing undercard:

Amateur Kickboxing (FCR)
Austin Lewis defeated Christian Runquist via TKO at 1:17 of round 2.
Greg Green defeated Shawn Hohol via TKO at 1:51 of round 2.
Non Scoring Exhibition: Jarren Norrell vs. Cole Lenington
Josh LaBree defeated Jason Christ via Unanimous Decision, 30-25, 30-25, 30-25.

Professional Kickboxing (FCR)
Joe Linenfelser defeated Scott Carlson via KO at 1:14 of round 2.

PJ Reilly and Jeff Barney were featured recently in an article by the Grand Junction Sentinel about their recent fights with the World Combat League. To check out the article, please click here: http://www.gjsentinel.com/hp/content/sports/stories/2008/04/28/042908_km_8th_street_gym_WWW.html

Thanks to Valiss for the link.

Saturday, April 26th, 2008 Team DeVore traveled to Sugar Grove, IL to participate in the USKO Fight Night! There were two title belts on the line and Josh “No Pain” Spain was slated in for the Welterweight title at 148-156#. Renshi Rick Christie was slated at Cruiser Weight 171-179#. Also fighting for Team DeVore on this card was our newest team member, super heavy weight Jordan “Big Maxey” Maxey, 6’6” and weighing in at 308# and Eric “The Wildman” Newingham whose title match canceled on him three days out so he took at fight giving up 15 pounds just to remain a part of this glorious evening!The evening started out with “Big Maxey” knocking his guy out one minute and 20 seconds into the first round after catching his opponent with a hard right hook to the chin followed by a straight right hand down the middle.

Next up was Eric “The Wildman” Newingham who secured a unanimous decision after putting his opponent to the canvas at least twice by the second round.

It is time for the title fight action to now begin with Josh “No Pain” Spain taking the ring to go head to head for the welterweight title. After knocking his opponent down at least twice in the second round, the hard work and training of Spain proved to be a bit more than his opponent was ready for. He was like the energizer bunny with brand new batteries!!! The referee stepped in and pulled him off to secure our first title victory of the evening!!!!

Finally, as the MAIN EVENT of the evening! Renshi Rick Christie takes the ring with a set of very focused and determined eyes. He showed his skill and his conditioning throughout the first round – beating his opponent to almost every punch he tried to throw and dominating the ring with footwork and head movement until he positioned himself to go in for the close in the second round of the bout. After pushing his opponent up against the ropes and after putting on a fine display of what a flurry of well conditioned kicks and punches truly look like the referee once again steps in and says enough is enough!

Special thanks to my corner men for this event – Josh “Chico” DeVore and Mason “White Lightening” Christie as well as everyone who traveled 3 hours to watch the team perform. Your support is priceless!!!!! A very special thanks to our “anonymous” student that insisted on making a donation to the team to help with travel and so forth while making the statement “I know how hard it can be to follow your dreams”! – You know who you are!!!! The team was very appreciative for the support!!! Thank You!!!!

Also, special congrats to our sister team “TEAM GEYSTON” who also had two fighters (Michelo Pryor and Vincent Eazelle) who also went 2-0 with one knock out Saturday evening!

Central Illinois was well represented – 6 fighters over all / 6 wins / 4 knock outs / 2 title belts! Shihan Geyston and I could not be any prouder of our teams!!!!!! Congrats Shihan!!!

The two title belts we just brought home, combined with Eric Newingham’s Missouri State Title he won earlier this year along with Josh “Chico” DeVore’s three armature title belts and Zach Grays title belt we now sport 7 title belts hanging on the wall around our boxing ring. There has been two more won by Team DeVore past members that are not kept in the gym.. 9 total so far and we are just getting going.

As usual, you will find a couple youtube videos below to give you a better feel for the evening!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWx1HuLbN0I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHh3NHB0ACY

Registrations are steadily coming in for this years Thai Boxing Association, Muay Thai Classic. The amateur only event will take place July 11-13 at the 7 Flags Event Center in Clive Iowa (just outside of Des Moines). This year will be a 2 day tournament with 3 rings for preliminary fights and one ring for the finals on the 13th. The 2008 event will also celebrate the 40th anniversary of the T.B.A. and Ajarn Chai’s journey teaching and promoting Muay Thai across the world.

There will also be a special night of Pro/Am fights Saturday evening, separate from the tournament.

As of this posting there are 89 registered fighters for this all amateur, Muay Thai event. Divisions include: Junior Girls, Junior Boys, Women’s Open, Men’s Open, and Men’s Novice (3 or less fights).

For tournament information and to register online, please visit: www.TBASanctioning.org.

The official website is now online at: http://www.istreamyoustream.com/muaythai/index.asp

Check out this incredible fight card, purchase the Pay-Per-View, and if you are lucky enough to travel to Jamaica for the event, you can find information about all the event activities including:

• Cultural Festival
• Global “Choose Your Ring Girl”
• Grand Gala (fight fans can participate in a live auction featuring fighter memorabilia)
• VIP Party
• Fashion Show
• Golf Tournament

The focus of the event is to establish computer learning centers in Jamaica and throughout the Caribbean. To raise funds to support its cause, CCGI will host a series of events in Montego Bay, Jamaica, beginning on June 18th and ending on June 22nd. In addition to the popular golf tournament, one of the featured events for 2008 will be a Live Muay Thai fight.

This event is sanctioned by WBC-Muay Thai, IKKC, and the IKF. The event will feature 9 Muay Thai World Title Fights!

The World Combat League’s 2007-2008 Conference Finals are taking place May 3rd in San Antonio, Texas at the Freeman Coliseum where the New York Clash will take on rival New Jersey Tigers and the Oklahoma Destroyers will look to upset the L.A. Stars. The Clash finished the season 0-3, but defeated the Eastern Conference leading, Miami Force in a Cinderella-like story at the Eastern conference playoffs.

As the true underdogs of the season, the New York Clash are looking to make a run all the way to the WCL Finals, and to help do so, they have brought in some “big guns” to strengthen the team. Joining the Clash at the 164 lb division is Abraham Han, older brother to St. Louis Enforcer’s star, Jennifer Han. Abraham Han boasts an incredible amateur kickboxing record of 81-12 and is a multi time IKF Tournament Champion.

Making his WCL debut in the 235 lb weight class is K-1 and Kickboxing veteran, Patrick Barry. Berry has been fighting on the K-1 circuit since 2005 where he has wins over Mark Selbee, Scott Lighty, Gary Goodridge, and Rickard Nordstrand. He’s returning from and extended training camp in Amsterdam, Holland and will be taking on New Jersey’s John “The Panther” James who is 6-1 this season.

It looks to be a great night of fights. For more information, check out www.WorldCombatLeague.com and view the latest WCL newsletter at http://www.worldcombatleague.com/pdf/TWW12.pdf